Swallowed in the Sea
by My Artless Suicide
Summary: "And so he was left, the living, breathing ghost of the greatest clan of all fire country." Naruto struggles to find himself a place in the world while a haunting past, persistent shinigami, and a little thing called love collide. AU. SasuNaru
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello and welcome to Swallowed in the Sea! I've been bouncing this idea around for a couple of days and finally decided to outline the plot and everything so I could write it. This is the first chapter, and if I have it in mind to be a good authoress I'll keep this updated regularly. **

**Disclaimer: Naruto and all of it's characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto.**

The Uzumaki clan made quite a spectacle when gathered for their 10th annual family reunion.

It was always a lively affair. Set under a groove of Momo trees during the last days of spring, a sea of red heads (and an occasional brown one) milled about enjoying the festivities. There were booths of games, each run by different branches of the clan, and many tiny feet to pitter about between them. One of these sets of feet belonged to a little boy by the name of Kyuubi Namikaze – Uzumaki. He hurriedly stumbled along the tiny dirt path to the benches in the center of the Momo grooves where he knew his mother would be resting. She would have her hand hovering protectively over her belly because Kushina Namikaze – Uzumaki was heavily pregnant with her second child. Kyuubi sped up at the thought of his little brother sitting inside of his mother.

'_He's making himself look pretty, musuko, just for you.' She would whisper softly when he asked her how much longer until he could hold his baby brother. _

'_Tell him he's pretty enough now Kaasan! I can't wait anymore!' _

And finally the time was near, Kyuubi concluded; his mother looked as if she was going to explode. His baby brother couldn't possibly get any bigger now, so he would just have to come out, regardless of how pretty he was.

'I'll love him anyway, my silly otouto.' He swore fervently.

Similar thoughts swamped the young boy as he trekked further into the wilderness surrounding. He wasn't intimidated by it in the least however, because the land was so familiar. He didn't bother to pay attention to his surroundings while striding dutifully onward, a paper crane he'd folded with his obaachan cradled in his tiny fists. At long last, he broke through the tree line and came upon a figure standing in the thick shadows, a flowing kimono draped gracefully across the lean back. He approached the still figure, though he couldn't remember his mother ever owning a black and purple obi.

It would be the last mistake of the boy's life.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kushina Namikaze – Uzumaki went into labor in their family's festival tent.

"Minato! Oh god, I hope you die you miserable bastard I swear you'll never touch me aga-!" Minato Namikaze – Uzumaki quickly shut the flap of the tent and backed into a tree trunk. He ran a shaky hand through his golden blonde locks and sighed, trembling from the anxiety overload. Grandmother Chiyo approached him with a calm smile and a glass of sake.

"Calm down child, everything is going well. The birth is almost over; Kaito swears he has a grip on a little blond head already."

"I know. I just can't help but be on edge. Speaking of, have you seen Kyuu? He'll be off the wall when he hears." Chiyo gave a puzzled frown.

"You haven't seen him? I sent him to find his mother nearly an hour ago."

"No, Kushina has been in labor here for quite a while now. I found her at the benches toward the start of the festival complaining about some really bad cramps and brought her back this way." Chiyo nodded and then turned; ready to track down the tiny ball of mischief known as Kyuubi.

"I'm sure he's fi-"

An explosion cut her off.

"THE NINE TAILS IS FREE. KYUUBI IS FREE!"

Panic spread swiftly.

And there it stood, a ghastly orange specter towering over the forest. It gnashed its enormous jaws, foamed angrily from the mouth and tossed its head about in absolute rage, tendrils of sizzling orange chakra dripping free. The Momo blossoms caught fire in seconds, burned away from the branches and raining down like tiny meteorites around the great beast. Demonic eyes narrowed until the pupil was nothing more than a catlike slit surrounded by a blood red iris and it let loose a roar that shook the trees down to their roots. Everyone stood paralyzed in terror.

Then the great creature moved.

"MINATOO!" Kushina's scream was pitched to break an eardrum. It echoed all the way to the Kyuubi, causing the livid animal to turn about and growl threateningly. Minato had to assume that she knew, even in the midst of labor.

"**YOU DIE TODAY PITIFUL HUMAN."** The demon's voice was almost as threatening as its appearance.

"I'm handling it dear!" Minato turned to the Kyuubi and started running through the process for the resealing within his mind, factoring in the distance and the speed at which the demon could cover that distance.

Not to mention the amount of time it would take Kushina to finish birthing the next container – their last son.

He had to assume Kyuu was dead by now, no one had ever been known to release the demon and live. It was the curse of the Uzumaki containers, one handed down through the family since the beginning of time itself. Just as his family had been the sealers sent from Kami and protectors of the container, Minato vowed that he would control the beast and send it back to imprisonment.

It was what he was born to do.

He would tame the beast for his fallen son.

* * *

Then the battle began. Slowly the enormity known as the Uzumaki clan was cut down in bloody chunks, misshapen bodies bleeding out on the forest floor. Blood ran in thick rivulets everywhere, collecting in puddles which the demon stormed through, laughing manically. However, Minato remained standing and with the help of Grandmother Chiyo and a few medics of the clan Naruto Namikaze – Uzumaki was brought into the world.

Kushina held her son gently while he wailed for the first time.

_"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. My beautiful musuko."_

She whispered every possible word of love and courage she could think to give him. She told him all of the family secrets, and how much his brother loved him, and how no matter what happened she would always be with him.

_"...You must always remember to love, Naruto. Love when the Kyuubi's hatred surrounds you, and you will always be safe."_

Then Kushina Namikaze – Uzumaki stood and carried her baby out of the tent into the waiting battlefield where her husband was quickly tiring. She placed little Naruto in his father's arms and then nodded at Minato, expelling chains of chakra from her frail body.

"Hurry love." Kushina's voice was barely a whisper, the strain chipping away at bits of her skin and blood dripping from the corners of her mouth, but the beast was held fast.

Minato stepped forward until he stood right in front of the raging demon, placing Naruto down on the ground in front of him. The baby looked up, blinked, and cooed in confusion. Minato turned away fighting tears.

He wouldn't make it out of this alive.

The hand signs came fast, familiar; he had been trained since he was young to do this. It was his destiny. It was Kushina's, and most importantly it was Naruto's.

When he finished forming the dragon hand sign he ripped a tiny scroll free from his pocket, placed it on Naruto's stomach, and watched it absorb as he bit his thumb.

'_Daddy loves you Naruto, I swear. You're our hero...'_

With a whispered "Seal" it was all over.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Next day update like a boss. :D Second installment of Swallowed in the Sea. Enjoy my beautiful readers.~**

**Warnings: ANGST. ANGST. OH GOD IT'S EVERYWHERE. **

**Disclaimer: If the show were mine, Sasuke would be chasing Naruto, Itachi would be a pervert fangirl, and Jiraiya and Orochimaru wouldn't be able to keep their hands off each other. **

_ (And so he was left, the breathing, living ghost of the greatest clan of all fire country.)_

The rest of Kohonagakure stumbled upon the ruins of the Uzumaki festival a few hours after the incident. It was a hesitant decision amongst the town, seeing as no one enjoyed dealing with the fire tempered redheads and their residential demon, but the chakra usage was just too significant to ignore.

"We've got a live one over here!" Naruto had long since stopped crying.

"Oh look it's a baby!" The villagers swarmed the golden hair orphan, peering at him from where they were standing.

"Oh the poor thi-"

"Wait! Look! It has the seal!" Everyone collectively took a step backward.

"It's the demon wielder…"

"He did this…"

"Best if we just left him here…" The villagers slowly nodded to each other, then proceeded to casually gather their families and stride back off towards town. Their bobbing shadows retreating quickly by the light of a crescent moon.

Well, all except for one.

An old man by the name of Hiruzen Sarutobi took pity on the poor infant soul. He knew that his clan wouldn't allow such an abomination in their midst, but he couldn't just leave a child in the cruel hands of Mother Nature. Hiruzen could only think of one option that might work and that was to take the boy out into the depths of Fire County's forest. There in the clusters of oaks and grooves of fern stood a small cabin that his mother owned when she still lived.

And there was the only place the boy would survive safely.

* * *

Eventually the Momo trees produced blossoms again, and all the while foxes from all corners of the sprawling forest would wander into Naruto's unsecured cabin. The fierce mothers would feed him when he cried out into the night, and the fathers would prowl about the cabin to keep away grumpy bears. Once or twice Hiruzen stopped by in the boys developing years, giving him books of many things and teaching him basic Japanese.

Naruto learned the meaning of the word alone before anything else.

"_What that?" A chubby 3 year old Naruto pointed out the window._

"_That is the rest of the world; it's no place for you."_

"_Why?" Sarutobi gestured to the small being, reciting what he had learned of the Uzumaki's from his ancestors. _

"_Because you are an abomination, a demon, you have been since birth and you always will be." _

He preferred to speak in short choppy sentences and had a tendency to yowl when he was upset, yip when he was happy, or growl when he was frustrated. Hiruzen grew distantly fond of him despite his inbred prejudice, but didn't hesitate to reveal what he knew of the teenager's clan's murder.

"_When we can to the clearing everything was wrecked. No one was breathing but you."_

"_Why?"_

"_They sealed the curse inside of you Naruto, the curse that killed your family kept you alive…" _

Shortly after that visit word came to Naruto on the eve of his 6th birthday. The forest animals had found Hiruzen Sarutobi washed up on a riverbank 2 miles from his home… in pieces.

Naruto spent a very long time grieving for the loss of his only friend.

But time continued forward, and eventually Naruto had to leave the comfort of his little log cabin to go to town for food and other basic supplies. The villagers gasped in recognition as he strolled down the dirt road in nothing but a big white shirt with the Uzumaki swirl on the back. Some began to stir in fear; a couple spitting towards him as he walked up to stands whose venders refused to look at him. He came upon a stand selling basic food items and took out his frog wallet, a late birthday present from Sarutobi.

"Ano, Naruto needs bread, milk, soap?" The vendor sneered.

"We don't serve your kind here, murder." Now the villagers had been banned from killing the Kyuubi container by their leader, but he never said anything about making the boy leave of his own accord.

Naruto felt the tears working their way forward, and he couldn't understand what he had done wrong. Perhaps the man had confused him with some else? Or maybe...

Ah! He had forgotten his manners.

"Gomen, gomen. Naruto PLEASE need bread, milk, soap?"

"I SAID GET OUT OF HERE. DEMON!" The man bellowed and Naruto scampered off in fright, his wallet clutched tightly in his tiny fist.

* * *

Iruka Umino watched the entire scene with a heavy frown. He had heard the town's wives tales about the 'Kyuubi' and the container supposedly holding it. However, the visiting city dweller didn't buy into superstitions so easily. What the brown haired man saw was a bunch of lowlife adults picking on a defenseless and seemingly starving child, and that was completely inexcusable.

Demon wielder or not.

Iruka huffed angrily at the nerve of these people, because he knew what it was like to be a starving orphan in search of life outside of what they had been exposed to. He could sympathize with Naruto's plight and therefore couldn't leave the child to suffer. So he decided that the little blonde would just have to come with him back to the city, for his own wellbeing.

Iruka hurried off in the direction he had saw Naruto take, and was swallowed up in the treeline.

* * *

Cerulean eyes overflowed tears until the whites surrounding were blood red. Naruto had ran to the steam that had carried Sarutobi's broken body.

'_Sarutobi-sensei, what I do now?'_ Naruto battered his petite hands against the ground in attempt to stop the pain in his chest. Finally he grabbed at the thin layer of cloth covering his heart and cried out.

"_Why I a monster? Tousan, Kaasan, why you create monster?" _

The forest was still around him, not a sound to be heard but a wailing wind that swallowed up his cries.

* * *

Iruka felt the approaching storm as the hairs on the back of his neck stood.

He would have to hurry and get the kid to get out of there before the dirt road leading to the city became nothing but a trench of mud. He stopped and listened, trying to hear past the screams of wind that were picking up strands of his ponytail and shaking the treetops. Finally he heard it.

"Woo… woo…" Soft sobs echoed hauntingly through the forest, an eerie grey sky providing the perfect backdrop for the broken moans.

It had to be Naruto; no animal would be caught dead in the open with the kind of storm that was building. He sped forward, pushing aside foliage and swatting at bugs until he came across the boy curled in on himself. His golden spikes dragged in the current of the rapidly swelling river and he had his eyes squeezed shut, as if in great pain.

"Hey, kid." Naruto's eyes flew open. "Hey, c'mon we have to get out of this storm." Iruka put out his hand encouragingly. Naruto backed away, unsure about the intentions of this human. He seemed nonthreatening, but they all did until they knew who he really was. Naruto shook his head from side to side very slowly then proceeded to back up towards the stream; it was deep enough that if he were to jump in the current would take him down.

He might not get out alive, but it wasn't as if anyone was going to miss him anyway.

"No! Wait! Please don't jump!" Naruto cocked an eyebrow, as he had seen Sarutobi-sensei do when he was waiting for an explanation.

"Look, I know this seems strange and you don't even know me and all of the people here hate you but I don't. But please come back with me to Tokyo, I can give you a better life than this! I can love you!"

Naruto laughed.

It was a deep wounded choking sound, laced through with the malice of one who had been shunned their whole life. Iruka cringed.

"Naruto is demon, can't love demon, can't love Naruto." He took another step backward, one toe dipping precariously into the rushing water. Iruka hardened his resolve against the attempts at pushing him away.

"Well then, at least let me try. It's gotta be better than that." Iruka swept a hand behind himself, gesturing toward the village.

And Naruto (an animal of great instinct) knew the man spoke the truth.

So he nodded, and let Iruka guide him out of the forest, out of the village and to the city.

* * *

From there Iruka poured all of his affection into raising Naruto. He home schooled him in his tiny 2 bedroom flat on the outskirts of the city, taught him to speak properly, and gave him what the boy had been in need of all along –

a little love.

Or a lot of love, in Iruka's case, who was just as much of a mother hen as physically possible without being the actual animal itself. They lived next to an American transfer student named Jule and her adoptive Japanese son Konohamaru. The boys bonded as they were both homeschooled, and bounced between apartments when Iruka had work or Jule had class. Konohamaru even divulged his secret collection of princess stories he had kept from his orphanage, and how he often wished to be a princess too.

"_In a non-girly way!" He would shout._

"_Yeah right." Then Naruto would laugh then quietly agree._

Naruto never forgot what he went through as a child, but he did put it behind him, and now on the eve of his 16th birthday he had a home, a family, and an annoying little brother of a neighbor. It seemed as if things were finally looking up. So when Naruto blew out the candles on his cake and Iruka called for him to make a wish, he could only think of one.

'_**I wish for a happily ever after with my very own prince.' **_

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite that easy.

**A/N: If you catch any mistakes, please review and tell me, I am without beta at the moment. On another side note the village Naruto stayed in would be in modern day Shuzenji, Japan. Hence why I had Iruka live in Tokyo (closest major city). Until next installment, Mata ne! **


End file.
